# NES: Super Mario Bros\.

The 1985 Nintendo Entertainment System with its controller and Super Mario Bros\.: load the cartridge the toaster way, look inside, then play World 1\-1 on the period TV

By Numa

Topic: Games

[Open the interactive Jig](https://ask.jig.com/j/z1BxdGMwE1sj)

## Guide

### 1. The Nintendo Entertainment System

This is the NES\-001 that Nintendo launched in North America in 1985, with its NES\-004 controller and a Super Mario Bros\. Game Pak\. After the video game crash of 1983 it was styled like home video equipment: a grey box with a flap at the front, a little like a VCR\.

Drag empty space to turn the room\. Press POWER or RESET on the console\.

### 2. Loading the cartridge

Lift the flap, slide the Game Pak in label side up, then press it down until it clicks into place, and close the flap\. Press POWER: the red light comes on and the picture tube warms up to the title screen\.

### 3. Inside the toaster

With the top shell lifted away you can see why people call it the toaster\. The cartridge rides in a tray: pushing it down presses its edge connector onto 72 springy pins\. The springs wore out over the years, which led to poor contact and the habit of blowing into cartridges\.

### 4. The lockout chip

Next to the connector sits the 10NES lockout chip\. It talks to a twin chip inside every licensed cartridge\. If the two do not agree, often because the cartridge is badly seated, it resets the console about once a second: the light blinks and the screen flashes grey\. Seat the cartridge properly and the game starts\.

### 5. The controller

The cross\-shaped direction pad came from Nintendo’s Game & Watch handhelds\. On the NES\-004 it sits beside SELECT and START and two red buttons\. In Super Mario Bros\., the pad walks Mario, A jumps, holding B runs and START begins or pauses the game\.

### 6. World 1\-1

Mario runs right through a scrolling world 256 pixels wide by 240 high, drawn from 8 by 8 pixel tiles and sprites\. He bumps question blocks for coins and a mushroom, stomps Goombas, kicks Koopa shells and slides down the flagpole by the castle\.

The game is playing itself, with sound\. Touch the controller to take over\.

### 7. Your turn

Press START, then reach the flagpole before time runs out\. The pad moves Mario, A jumps, B runs\.

One finger: hold a direction, slide over B to run and onto A to jump\.